In the past few years, online giving days have exploded in popularity across academic institutions. Although schools continue to see great results with multi-year fundraising campaigns—particularly when utilizing social media—many have found that condensing their efforts into shorter campaigns can be profitable just the same. After all, nothing gets alumni and donors more excited to give than a marathon-style challenge!
Of course, raising thousands or millions in 24 hours is no easy task. Any advancement team can attest that it takes careful planning, good timing, and motivated alumni. But as more schools jump onto the giving day trend, innovation has become increasingly necessary; the most successful giving days are those with an extra dash of creativity, whether that means creating short parody videos or enlisting the school mascot for some “game day” fun.
Here at EverTrue, we looked at independent schools and higher ed institutions across the nation in search of the most innovative giving days of 2013 and 2014. Among a sea of original ideas and impressive fundraising results, here are the 20 schools that came out on top: